Who’s Using P2P Payments in the US?

Who’s Using P2P Payments in the US?

Like other burgeoning technologies, the increase in P2P payment usage is mainly being driven by millennials.

“Younger consumers are willing to engage with platforms they feel they can trust, but that also allows them to engage in ways that are consistent with how they normally operate in their lives,” said Juan Benitez, general manager of the PayPal-owned Braintree, in our "Mobile Proximity and Peer-to-Peer Payments 2018" report.

What’s more, an April 2018 study by Early Warning Services found that nearly half (49%) of millennial smartphone owners in the US—which the study defined as 22- to- 37-year-olds—have sent or received money at least once a week. In contrast, 42% of 38- to-53-year-olds have made payments at least weekly, and nearly a third (32%) of those 54 to 72 have.

Who’s Dominating the Space?

Fewer millennials may be saying "I’ll Venmo you" in the next few years.

While Venmo was likely the first P2P service to draw in this demographic, and historically it has held the majority of market share, we expect Zelle will overtake Venmo in 2018.

Zelle will grow more than 73% this year to reach 27.4 million users in the US, slightly ahead of Venmo (22.9 million users). Square Cash will round out the top three with 9.5 million users.